Implications of this theory are that segregations is not always costly. Ethnic enclaves behave much like the primary labor marker (employers have privileged access to a special labor force; workers have unique opportunities to make it within the ethnic enclave).

The enclaves are sources of ethnic solidarity: ethnic employers are obliged to reserve supervisory positions for ethnic employers and they provide opportunities for upward mobility. Portes studied a Cuban community in Miami shows that Cuban immigrants do fare better within the ethnic enclave.

But, there are also sources of class tension, as Victor Nee pointed out (1987). He noted that ethnic enclaves benefit employers, but not workers. In Asian American enclaves, for example, immigrant entrepreneurs provide their employees with particularly harsh and exploitative work environments.